The Tour of the Battenkill is known as “America’s Queen of the Classics.” The 68 mile spring race in Greenwich, NY features 15 miles of gravel roads, 4,500 feet of vertical climbing and three categorized climbs — including the legendary “Juniper Swamp” that grinds up a dirt road at a 17% grade.
I rode the race for the first time in 2016 and despite looking online could not find good advice on what tires, gear, etc. to run. This quick blog post is a guide for future Battenkill riders based on my experience.
Tires — With 15 miles of gravel it’s easy to second guess tire selection. Pretty much every type of wheel and tire is represented at the start line, from 23mm road tires to 2.5″ “fat bike” tires. While there are a lot of dirt roads on the course they are very well packed with minimal potholes and loose gravel. I ran 23mm Continental Gatorskins at 80 PSI. I finished the ride who zero flats and only a few areas of sketchy handling. If your bike can take a 25mm tire that might be a better choice for muddy weather, but remember for all that dirt, there is also at least 30 miles of flat, fast, paved roads. Plan accordingly.
Gearing — There are some steep hills on this course. Steep. I ran a compact front chainring (50/34) and a 11/28 rear chainring. This gave me the gears to spin up the moderate hills and make it over the steepest climbs at about 50 rpm cadence without standing. The event recommends a minimum 39/25 gearing which would probably require some standing climbs over the big hills. One downside of the compact crank was that I could not quite hold with fast groups riding 52/11 down the big hills and on the flats.
Brakes — I ran standard cantilever road brakes with no issues. Disc brakes might be helpful on a wet day, but really there aren’t a lot of descents that require braking on Battenkill. Almost all the hills are rolling, and riding the brakes on the dirt descents is a bad idea in any case.
Frame — Most riders at the Battenkill were riding standard road bikes. It’s tempting to bring a cyclocross bike to this event given the dirt roads, but it’s not really necessary. And remember, for all those extra gears and clearance on a cyclocross bike you’re also adding weight compared with a standard carbon road bike. Some people showed up on mountain bikes and fat bikes, but they were dropped on the first climb and never seen again. This is a road ride, so leave your full suspension rig at home.
Just a few thoughts on equipment from a first time Battenkill finisher (not winner…). Your experience may be different. Now that I know what to expect when I ride Battenkill next year I’ll ride the same setup and feel confident with my choices.
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